The last page of a folder presenting the offer of the French Totaldac company reminded me of the way in which digital technology has developed in the last thirty-five years, in the context of the audio domain. It all started in the year 1980 when the fundamentals of the Red Book CD-CA standard were published.... Read More »
Geoff Merrigan, the CEO of Tellurium Q, is not very effusive when it comes to telling the secrets of his cables design. To be honest, it seems as if he wants people to know as little as possible about them. When asked about the reason, he gives an obvious answer: it does not matter how... Read More »
While tracing the development of the Accuphase company for the last several years, I underestimated its approach to designing audio equipment for a long time, which was in evident contrast with my respect for the products themselves. They have always been and undoubtedly will continue to be a model as regards the quality of workmanship,... Read More »
One of the most well-known Polish constructors specializing in digital systems asked me recently what we see in the "whole DSD thing". I frankly said that the answer is "nothing", because DSD files always come across better in comparison with PCM files. What I said was confirmed by a listening session in which I participated... Read More »
Sah es eine Zeitlang so aus, als läge die Zukunft von Hifi in China, bekommt der Markt jetzt unerwartet Zuwachs aus europäischen Regionen, die bisher nicht für interessante Geräte bekannt waren. Heute mal ein Plattenspieler aus Serbien
It's hard to take eyes off new iFi products. This British company using logos, letters and design that all look like taken from Luxman, Leak, or Richard Allan products from 60ties or 70 ties, or from present production of Leben, entered a new (for them) niche part of a market usually called "vintage" (if you... Read More »
It must be a real shock for a company that uses some particular material as a key element for its products when it learns that it won't be manufactured anymore by a single provider. If the whole philosophy of a company, which means its all activity, is based on this single element/material the end of... Read More »
The world today relies on charts and measurements and results. And while audiophilia tries hard not to follow the mainstream, pointing out its weaknesses and failures, we should still use this popular "method" of evaluating things, simply because in this particular case it will allow us to save some time. S1 is the latest product of Hong... Read More »
To be honest I can't remember how it started. In my own review of Dionysos preamplifier for January 2011 I wrote that I'd firstly learned about existence of Thrax Audio one year earlier during High End 2010 Show in Munich. But now I really can't remember any details. It seems though that I somehow knew already then... Read More »
One can wonder why so many people at certain age start using expression "I remember that..." more and more often. I can not not remember that several years ago whenever I came across such expression in a text it usually ignited at least some level of aversion towards obviously "advanced" age of its author. Why... Read More »
As I already mentioned once (in the review of Wow Audio Lab L1/M1 amplifier), Audio Show in Warsaw is a place for me to collect information. Not necessarily about the sound but rather about brands, products and people. But I always welcome a nice surprise, I mean a really good sounding system. Such a system, such a... Read More »
My memories from (I think) the first edition of High End Show in Munich (after it moved from Frankfurt's Kempinsky Hotel), survived in few "capsules". Each of them contains a part of me, but also – as I can see it now – sort of prelude to the future events. That's what happened in 2005... Read More »
BACK IN BLACK The vinyl is back for good. If there are people who haven't noticed this yet, they are clearly the sort that have no interest in music, know nothing about the younger generation, don't pay attention to the changes in design and don't understand the changing contemporary society. In other words, people... Read More »
Most of Poles realize that there are two countries in Europe who's flags are a combination of horizontal white and red strips. One of them is Monaco with red stripe above white one, and the other is obviously the Republic of Poland with white stripe above the red one. Probably much less people realize that... Read More »
There are certain inventions, technologies and design ideas that should have disappeared long ago, and yet stubbornly cling to existence. They are only preserved and cherished by people who see some kind of value in them, which seems to be lacking in newer inventions, technologies and design ideas. That is the case with full range... Read More »
Each business enterprise has its own so-called "founding myth" (in Western classical scholarship often referred to as etiological myth from the Greek word αἴτιον, "a cause"). The founding myth for Mark Levinson's company and, hence, for Mark Levinson himself was the LNP-2 preamplifier, launched in 1972. In Levinson's words, which he later repeated many times... Read More »
In 1986, Professor Atsumi Ohno of the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan, a respected inventor and scientist, after years of research proposed an innovative method of producing a copper wire with unique properties. The main idea is that the wire is cast instead of being drawn. As a result, it is possible to produce... Read More »
I've been trying to remember how long have we known each other with Mr Eugeniusz Czyżewski and I've realized it's been 12 years already. The Pracownia Elektroniki Przemysłowej ORLIK, as Mr Czyżewski's company was called back then when we met, was just about to change its name to Argos and it was Argos IA-45 Integra,... Read More »
New audio brands emerging on the market have become an everyday experience. Each year I come across new brands, names and designs, the same with new ideas for a product. Less often, one can say scarcely, I come across new business ideas. The transition from a "device" (speakers, accessories, cables etc.) to a product is... Read More »